The Future 50: Where are the female leaders?

We all know the drill. "Do you want the good news or the bad news?" someone asks. Some of us opt for the good news. Others take the bad news first. In a recent Journal Sentinel article on the Future 50, the Metropolitan Milwaukee Association of Commerce's annual list of rapidly-growing companies, there was plenty of news to celebrate.

■Twenty of the 50 companies were manufacturers, up from 17 a year ago.

■The combined revenue was $1.1 billion, up 27% from last year.

■Total employment was 11% higher, at almost 4,100 employees.

■Twenty companies are based in Milwaukee, with the remainder spread across the surrounding communities.

■Seventeen organizations have been on the list for three years and earned special recognition for that accomplishment.

If you are not familiar with the list, companies must be from the seven-county metropolitan areas and be locally owned. The award winners are further selected on revenue and employment for at least three years as well as their business outlook.

And there are great stories behind the more than 600 businesses that have been recognized since the awards were created more than 25 years ago. Some trace their beginnings back generations, while others have opened their doors but a few years ago. So there is plenty of good news.

Now the bad news.

Did you scan the list of presidents/CEOs? How many women would you find on the list of 50? Based on recent statistics that put women in the workforce at about 50%, you would guess maybe half of the leaders might be female. Guess again.

Well, about a third of the companies are less than 10 years old, and dating back to the late 1990s the number of women-owned businesses grew at 11/2 times the national average, so how about 33%? No, that guess would be too high.

OK, at least 10 of the leaders, or 20%, must be women. Not even close. I have to admit when I found that only four women were listed as president/CEO of these firms, I didn't know what to think.

Perhaps 2013 was an anomaly? If I reviewed the previous year's winners, surely there would be more women in leadership roles. So I pulled the lists beginning in 2004, and what did I find? That over a 10-year period, the average number of women in top roles for the Future 50 was four. The highest year was 2006 when seven women were listed as president or CEO among the award winners. So what conclusion can we draw?

There is much work to be done. The Milwaukee Women Inc. spring 2013 publication "Measuring Change 2013" reported that the number of female directors in the 50 largest public companies in Wisconsin actually dropped slightly to 14% over the past year and 13 companies continue to have no women on their boards. The number of female executives remained constant at 11%. Not exactly good news.

Some might ask: Why should we care? Certainly, there are arguments surrounding fairness, equality and social justice. But moving beyond the moral imperatives, there is an increasing body of research that indicates businesses with diverse leadership perform at a higher level.

A 2012 report from Credit Suisse reviewed results for 2,400 companies and found that performance over a six-year period improved between 17% and 24% for firms with female board members. The same study found net income grew over the same timeframe by 14% for firms with female board representation vs. 10% for those with no female directors. I would never argue that merely adding one board member, male or female, will solely account for this kind of difference, but I strongly believe diversity of thought and an inclusive culture led to better decisions and improved operating results.

So is there good news to share in Wisconsin? I think so.

Organizations such as Milwaukee Women Inc. continue to raise awareness of the opportunity. Leaders such as Alliant Energy, We Energies and ManpowerGroup have raised the Wisconsin boardroom standard with more than 30% female directors. S.C. Johnson, my former company, was recognized with a Visionary Award for Leadership and Governance from the WomenCorporateDirectors last month along with only two other companies, Unilever and IBM.

Other firms in our region are establishing "Affinity Networks" to encourage diverse employee participation. Mentorship programs are acknowledged as important contributors to employee development with approximately 70% of the Fortune 500 reporting formal mentorship programs. And those programs continue to emerge in Milwaukee and Wisconsin.

But mentorship is not enough. Recent research reveals sponsorship is an important component in career advancement. What is the difference between mentorship and sponsorship? A sponsor not only coaches but also actively advocates for high potential employees when promotions or valuable developmental opportunities emerge.

Donna Bembenek, president of the Milwaukee-based women's organization Professional Dimensions, summarized a theme that each honoree at the May BizTimes Women in Business event shared: "There was one thing they all agreed on...the critical importance of sponsorship of others (women in particular) in your organizations. We all have the responsibility to help others. None of us have accomplished our success alone. Through sponsorship, we ensure those with potential are lifted up and provided the opportunity to flourish."

And, I believe, until this happens consistently across our region, we'll be only celebrating a portion of the Future 50 each and every year.